In Memoriam: 1992 ASA President Katherine Wallman

The ASA lost a great friend and leader January 17 when Katherine Wallman passed away. Her positions as chief statistician of the United States from 1992 to 2017 and 1992 ASA president only begin to capture her legacy as a leader, friend, and champion of government statistics and statistical literacy.

Her innumerable accomplishments as chief statistician touched poverty measurement, race and ethnicity standards, the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act, the Statistical Policy Directive No. 1, and effective US engagement in international statistical activities.

After her retirement, she continued her contributions by volunteering to serve professional societies, the National Academies, and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.

We are especially grateful and fortunate that Katherine served as wise counsel and contributor to the ASA’s Scientific and Public Affairs Advisory Committee and Office of Science Policy on issues such as the following:

• Data literacy
• Office of the Chief Statistician of the United States challenges
• Quality of the 2020 Decennial Census
• National Center for Education Statistics needs
• State of the data infrastructure
• Professional autonomy protections
• Federal statistical agency health
• Integrity of agricultural statistics
• Calls for comment such as the proposed “trust regulation”

To read more about her interests and remarkable life, view the following resources:

• 1992 ASA presidential address, “Enhancing Statistical Literacy: Enriching Our Society”
• 2016 interview with Jim Cochran, “ASA Leaders Reminisce: Katherine K. Wallman”
• 2016 interview with Constance Citro, “A Conversation with Katherine K. Wallman”

Additionally, various organizations and people have recently posted commemorations, including the following:

• National Academies Committee on National Statistics
• US Census Bureau Director Robert Santos
• International Statistical Institute
• NORC at the University of Chicago